Adrian Cunningham is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and world traveller. He is an Australian native who now lives in New York. With fluent command of the saxophones, clarinet, and flute, he is one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in Jazz. He is a jazz festival and swing event promoter, when he’s not performing in NYC with some the best players. He has been performing at New York City’s best clubs, including Blue Note, Smalls and Birdland, 55 Bar and Apollo Theatre, Fat Cat and Dizzy’s Club, Lincoln Centre, and even at a private event at Village Vanguard, where he was joined by Wynton Marsalis and Wycliffe Gordon, George Coleman Jr., Bucky Pizzarelli, Chris Potter and Renee Marie. Adrian was appointed the head of the saxophone section in Vince Giordano u0026 the Nighthawks in 2014, which is a NYC 1920’s swing orchestra that has been responsible for soundtracks to Boardwalk Empire and other movies like the Aviator. Adrian currently performs with Wycliffe Gordon, a world-class trombonist. This included a performance in London Jazz Festival and a recording at Abbey Road studios along with Reginald Veal, Herlin Riley, and Wess Anderson. Adrian has been a guest on two Wycliffe albums to great reviews. (“One of the surprising joys of this album is the rich and woody clarinets of Cunningham,” album review; Hot House NYC). Adrian has toured the world with Wycliffe Gordon’s quintet, which includes the Johannesburg Jazz Festival and Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Newport, and regular performances in New York City at Dizzy’s (Lincoln Center), and the Kitano Hotel. Cunningham founded a New Orleans-style trad/traditional band called Professor Cunningham u0026 His Old School in 2013. They have performed at Snowball, Stockholm, SLOX (California), BABBLE, NYC, CPH:LX, Copenhagen, and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Cunningham is a regular performer at Jazz Festivals and is a favorite of many. These festivals include the North Carolina Jazz Festival, Central Illinois Jazz Festival, Newport, as well as concerts at the famed Gennett studios in Richmond, Indiana. International festival credits include Montreux Jazz Festival (3 times!!) Johanessburg (Japan), London, and Sopot Mollo (Poland) are just a few of the international festival credits. Adrian has spent a lot of time performing in Japan in recent times, most notably with Senri Oe, the Japanese star. They performed to sell out audiences at Tokyo Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, Nagoya, and Nagoya (2013). Adrian also toured Japan with Ken Peplowski’s big band in 2011 and 2013. He has recorded seven CDs and 2 DVDs as a leader with his long-standing quartet and in NYC through Arbors Records. https://adriancunningham.com
